6-12-07 - More comments from Loring Palmer

your info on santhara is provocative and thank you for having the guts to present this.

what strikes me about the jain approach is how they frame the situation:  it's looked at as a significant method of evolution of the soul in the passage from life into death, form into emptiness, from one bardo to the next.  when the aspirant announces their intention to perform santhara the community supports them during this rite-of- passage.  the death is then celebrated with a celebration.

this realm of the individual and collective interior, the invisible, non-measurable realm is not a consideration in western culture, for the most part. although it was a major aspect of christian europe before the "age of enlightenment."  but these days "if it can't be measured it doesn't exist." thus santhara, euthenasia, suicide, sepuku, mercy killing, gets lumped together as "taking life."--- taking, stealing, robbing the material. 

whereas in the jain view, supporting a person's intention die and move on is giving liberation to their soul.  i see compassion and dignity in this.

"it's better to die 10 years too early than 10 minutes too late."  where is your mind at that crucial moment.